David Abbott’s art director Ron Brown dies

Ron Brown, David Abbott’s long-time art director partner at Abbott Mead Vickers, later AMV BBDO and the UK’s biggest agency, has died. Abbott died last year.

Brown joined AMV in its early days – he and founder Abbott were its first creative team and had first teamed up at DDB London. Brown was also a president of the Designers & Art Directors Association (D&AD) in the late 1980s.

Brown was a self-effacing but combative man, like many of his art director contemporaries in the 1960s and ’70s, seeing themselves as craftsmen as much as ‘creatives.’ His cool work was the perfect complement to Abbott’s measured and, sometimes, highly emotional copy.

One of the most famous campaigns from the two was The Economist.

Here’s an article pitting Brown (on left) against another famous art director John Knight, taken from Dave Dye’s excellent blog Stuff From The Loft.

More than the Economist even, the two were probably best known for their Sainsbury’s work. Here’s a press ad.

And an unexpected, and charming, TV ad from back in the day that shows Brown’s art director skills in another medium.

About Stephen Foster

Stephen is a former editor of Marketing Week and London Evening Standard advertising columnist. He wrote City Republic for Brand Republic and is a partner in communications consultancy The Editorial Partnership.